With many women being much more focused on a career than settling down with children, the idea of an ever-slowing biological clock is daunting. However, there is apparently a little mental trick to slow or speed up that clock!

A new study found that the actual sound of a ticking clock can speed up your reproductive timing, making you want to have children earlier, according to a new study published in Springer's journal Human Nature.

Researchers asked men and women questions about their reproductive attitudes such as when they'd like to marry, have kids and how much they'd be willing to alter their life for a mate in order to start a family earlier than intended.

And what they surprisingly found was that the sound of a ticking clock influenced the women's answers, possibly because it made them think about their "expiration date."

"The very subtle sound prime of a ticking clock changed the timing with which women sought to have children and the traits they sought in potential partners—both central aspects of women’s mating-related psychology," said one of the lead researchers.

According to the study, men were not affected by the ticking sound, possibly because they can still produce children into their later years.